


Fall Maiko Week 2018

by bizukos (ladyvcngeance)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon, Dawn - Freeform, F/M, Fall Maiko Week 2018, Family Fluff, Fanon, Fluff, Mai (Avatar)-Centric, Maiko Week, One Shot, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, different stories, written for fall maiko week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-02 06:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16300091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyvcngeance/pseuds/bizukos
Summary: Oneshots written for Fall Maiko Week. Includes modern au and alternative fantasy setting.Rated Mature in case something gets a bit raunchy.14 October 2018 - Izumi is a name that means both spring and fountain. And when spring comes it means new life and rebirth. A new beginning. Written for the prompt Dawn.15 October 2018 - Mai and Zuko deal with different kinds of mental illnesses and it's never easy but who said love is easy?16 October 2018 - Mai, Zuko and Izumi spend time together and Izumi falls into a river. Written for the prompt River.17 October 2018 - Zuko is smitten by Mai's dance. Written for the prompt Dance.18 October 2018 - Written for the prompt 'run'. Zuko and Mai find freedom together in a game.19 October 2018 - Written for the prompt 'scatter'.20 October 2018 - Written for the prompt 'Dusk'. NSFW. Skip it if you want.





	1. A New Day

Twenty-two hours.

Twenty-two long hours that once felt like a lifetime was soon forgotten and the minutes rushed like a waterfall. The sun was rising and for a moment ago both of them had felt exhausted, she more than him, but they found new sudden energy in the life that they had created.

Zuko never left Mai’s side even when the midwives, physicians and the nurses who accompanied them had tried to talk what they thought was sense to him.

_“No fire lord has ever been in the room with their spouse. It goes against custom and tradition.”_

Zuko had wanted to proudly say. _“Fuck customs.”._ No old law or golden rule was going to keep him out of the birth of his child. It hadn’t been easy to be there. To see Mai in such pain and to see her scream her lungs out until that raspy voice was soon gone. It started at night and it went on for twenty-two hours until the little thing made their first cries.

_“It’s a girl! Congratulations your highness. It’s a healthy baby girl.”_

When Mai heard her daughter’s cries she felt a huge relief washing down her body. The once stoic woman was crying tears of joy and squeezing her husband’s hand even more so than when any contraction came for her. Zuko was in tears too. He had the privilege to cut the umbilical cord, to see her being washed and wrapped in a blanket and the midwives instructed him carefully how to hold her.

_“Make sure her neck is supported. See, she fits in the palm of your hand.”_

Time stopped for them and their whole world was in that room. The Fire lord and the Fire lady were left alone with their newborn daughter. Her big eyes soon fell into a slumber and small pink lips trembled.

“She’s beautiful.” Zuko said and walked over to his wife with careful steps. He felt stiff and his movement was limited. Afraid to wake the fragile child from her sleep. He carefully laid her on top of Mai’s chest and again Mai tried to hold her tears back but to no avail.

“She is.” Mai let one finger carefully stroke the head full of black hair. “She’s everything.”

The pain, the screaming until her voice gave in, the blood, sweat and tears…. It was all worth it to her.

Zuko kneeled down to kiss his wife’s cheek and looked over their newborn daughter. The sun was rising. It was new day and a new day meant new life. What a strange yet sweet coincidence that their daughter was born on the first week of spring. From the balcony they faced the garden, the cherry trees blossomed over the fountain and the newly hatched turtleducks were going to take their first swim. The earth was alive and taking its breathe of life. Zuko didn’t always believe in a higher power but how couldn’t he during spring time when everything came alive.

And there she was. She was finally here. Making her existence known and neither of them could have imagined this day until it finally came.

Mai had never felt such euphoria except from her most intimate moments with Zuko. From their first kiss, their moments together alone when nothing could come between them and their most sacred and secretive conversations. She felt it during their love making and she was feeling it again.

She symbolized their love. Their love for each other personified and ever so real. She needed a name, a name that was going to represent and carry such significance for them.

“Izumi…” Mai whispered. She looked at Zuko whose tears had stained his crimson uniform. “What do you think?”

“It’s perfect just like her.” Zuko said. All his worries for fatherhood had been swept away but his thoughts never left his mind. Thoughts of how he was going to do everything right by her. That she was going to grow up in a loved home and she was never going to bed with a heavy or broken heart. He was going to tear down walls for her. He’d give her the whole world and then some.

Mai planted a kiss on her daughter’s forehead.

_I hope I’ll do right by you. No, I will do right by you. Your voice shall matter, and your ideas and thoughts validated. I’ll never let anyone break your spirit. You shall never be me but only better, happier and stronger._

The sun was shining, and a new day looked over their nation. The people were waking up to the news of the newborn heir to the throne. To Zuko and Mai, it didn’t matter. They could say whatever about a female heir, but they knew for certain.

 

Fire lord Izumi was going to make history.


	2. A Beautiful Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Fall Maiko Week 2018.
> 
> For the prompt stone (15 Oct 2018)
> 
> Zuko and Mai are two damaged people who find solace and comfort in each other even when at their lowest points.

She thinks she’s difficult to love. That loving her isn’t the right thing to do but he can’t help to think he knows better.

He isn't easy to love and he knows that

None of them are perfect but far from it. Damaged to what they once thought was beyond repair. He is more optimistic than her. But his optimism can lead him to darker place and he hits a wall. He tries but it blows up in his face. The places it takes him makes him angry, frustrated, terrified and the panic attacks eat him up every night.

And the nights are the worst. He can’t breathe, he can’t run, and he can’t hide. The cold sweating and the hysteria invade his body like a rotting disease. He tries to force himself to stop shaking but it makes him even angrier. He wants to yell, scream and curse every fiber in his being for being this way.

And then she comes. Like a breeze that cleanses him. With one touch or a whisper, his head falls down to her lap and she talks him through it. The ugly thoughts, the sense that his soul is slowly rotting away, and the night terrors were cleansed by the whisperings from her raspy voice. Her slender fingers running through his thick hair and she kisses away the drops of sweat from his forehead. He is in turmoil but in those moments, he forgets that he is a volcano ready to erupt. He feels whole and loved.

But she’s different. An enigma wrapped in a mystery that seems to be impossible to solve but he loves a challenge.

It frustrates him that she doesn’t see the things in herself that he sees.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Mai.” He says and feels her massaging his templates after braiding two locks of his hair.

“I don’t know either.” She answers him.

He chuckles. He feels calm, but he doesn’t know for how long until his demons creep under his skin again.

 

She’s distant sometimes and he is that kind of person who hates having to repeat himself but for her he’d talk things over a thousand times again. To get her to comfortably opening herself up to him he memorizes things, reminds himself not to raise his voice or being too pushy with her and she goes days without passing herself in the mirror and for every time in one week she refuses to look at her herself, the same amount of time he remembers to compliment her.

She has a smile that can light up his world and when the corners of her mouth make an upward curve there’s a shine or a glimmer in her eyes.

_It’s alright. I can do the smiling for both of us._

They know their minds work in a similar yet in a very different way. He sees his world in flashing colors coming from every direction and things move too fast, too quickly for him to catch up with.

She sees it in slower pace and in greyish and black tones. The voices are mumblings and mutterings buzzing in her ear, but she never talks about them or what they are trying to tell her.

 

“How was your day?” Zuko asks her across the dining table.

She shrugs in reply and pokes around on her plate. “Just another day.”

“I wish you talked to me.” He lets out. Her replies sometimes take time, but he finds some sort of comfort when she answers him, but he can’t help to hate to see her bottling up her emotions until it pours out in hysterical cries or she takes it out on herself in the cruelest ways he could imagine.

“I am talking to you.” Mai said. Her tawny eyes meet his golden ones. “See? I’m talking.”

He can’t help to chuckle at her.

They know how to calm each other and comfort each other. It wasn’t always that easy. It used to end with slamming doors and screaming until their voices gave up on them.

He couldn’t stand her crying and it triggered something inside of him. She flinches at the sound of doors slamming but they had come far from where they had begun.

When she buries her face and tears in her hands, he makes sure to kiss her teary stained face and the scars on her arms.

And after every episode of acute stress and sudden moments of panic and hysteria, she wraps her arms around him slowly and presses her body to his. His breathing relaxes and his conflicting thoughts about ending it all leaves his body and he feels whole again, as if his broken pieces are together even through the cracks.

 

“You’re beautiful.” Zuko says when she joins him in the tub.

“You only say that because of how I look right in front of you.”

It was true but not in how she was making it out to be. She was smiling for the first time in 2 days.

“Maybe but when you smile, my whole world smiles.”

She looks down and up at him, giving him another small smirk.

They talk now, they laugh, he rinses that raven hair of hers that he adores with warm water and lays tender kisses on her scarred arms and she allows him. She welcomes his touch and those calloused hands on her smooth pale skin. He embraces her from behind and presses his face against her neck. He inhales her scent, and everything feels right and just perfect. Her fingers rest on his robust hands that cover stomach. She feels the scarred skin from the left side of his face on her. She feels like she can breathe out for the first time in a long time.

And he whispers sweet things to her and kisses her neck and back.

_What goes on in that beautiful mind of yours? I want to share the things I love with you. I’d do everything for you to smile and laugh. Just to see that glimmer in your eyes. And if the world brings you down I’ll make sure burn it down before if you ask me to._

 

Mai turns her neck and looks into his eyes. She feels his strokes and caresses on her arms and it has a calming effect on her.

“Are you happy?” Mai asks Zuko and touches the left side of his face where his burned scar lies. When she’s looking at him she can’t even see it, but she knows its there, a part of him. A part that he was ashamed of, he found it to be grotesque and made him look like the monster that he, perhaps, thought he was.

She didn’t mind it. It was just a part of his face. Her lover’s face. To her it was the most beautiful face she had laid eyes on.

“When I’m with you, yes.” Zuko answers and pulls her closer to him. He doesn’t want to let go off this moment or of her. Their naked bodies against each other under the hot water, an intimate moment and they shared plenty of them. Sexual and not sexual but just the comfort of being so vulnerable yet so secure.

“Are you happy, Mai?” Zuko asks her. He sounds concerned of what her answer might me.

She smiles, and her fingers gently stroke his cheek. “I haven’t been this happy in a long time.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I will have time to write for the whole week because I keep rushing things. I work and I study but I'm trying still heh.


	3. The River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt 'river' for Fall Maiko Week 2018.
> 
> It involves a river and toddler Izumi! (I just want more reasons to write about her) and just some fluff. Things of a sexual nature is implied or mentioned in the past. Nothing inappropiate.

Even if life had changed quite drastically for the royal couple some old traditions seemed to die hard.

Not far from the caldera was there a nature reserve known as The Royal National Park. It was a glorious forest full of wildlife and big trees that sprouted red and green of various tones and shades. Zuko always felt like that walking through the forests and pass the trees was like walking with giants but the forest had seen better days and from a certain environmental champion (who happened to be a friend of the royal family) the Fire lord had promised and enacted a law that would protect every wildlife in the nation

A part of the forest belonged exclusively to the royal family and just like how the royal family owned a private beach on Ember Island, they owned a piece of this land too.

Mai didn’t think much of it. She wasn’t a big fan of it and it sometimes made her uncomfortable to be out in the wild, but she had come to get used to it. It was a nice change from their hectic everyday lives in the caldera. There was a certain spot and it was important to Mai and Zuko. An old oak that provided with the right amount of shade and close by was a river with the clearest water and the sound of the water pouring had a calming effect.

 

Since their youth they had enjoyed picnics together and their certain spot underneath tree was the perfect place for it. They enjoyed the silence and the natural sounds from the swaying trees and the enchanted sound of the river. It was their little getaway, and no one could ever come close to destroy this little idyllic place that was meant for them. And many memories were made underneath that tree. They laid down there and talked until night fall and the stars of the night sky shined above them and their lives outside was forgotten for brief moments.

They talked until both feel asleep in each other’s arms, they laughed about the uptight ministers from the meetings and even shared a few intimate moments in that spot. Zuko would never forget the first time they made love underneath that tree and the mix of their heavy breathing and the sound of the running water was thrilling. Agni, he loved the sound of her breathing and the river together. What a sweet melody it made.

Years passed but the spot was the same. The tree was the same, the river still made its harmonic sound and the leaves was of the green and reddish colors.

 

“I want them to experience this.” Mai said and laid her hands on her expecting belly and looked out at the river.

“Them? Who?” Zuko was awoken from his nap. He had brought a bottle of the nation’s finest rice wine and he knew it to be her favorite, but it went untasted by her and he had finished his own cup before slumbering away.

“How much did you drink?” Mai asked and looked to his right where the basket of sweets and drink was laying.

He stretched and with a sigh answered her that he had been drinking for two people. With a gentle smile and tender eyes, he looked at her and her bump and reached to touch her.

“How’s the turtleduck?”

“A lot more comfortable than I am.” A smirk appeared on her light pink lips. She rested her hand on top of his and looked out at the sparkling water and hoped for tomorrow.

 

The years went by and the family tradition remained but for the royal family it was important to maintain a high level of security which meant that guards patrolled not far but around their area.

Zuko was looking out for Izumi who was running free in the grass and skipping from rock to rock.

“Good job!” Zuko applauded the toddler who had her time of her laugh.

Mai had her eyes in a book and it was until Izumi started to throw rocks into the river and sound of it that had caught her attention.

“What is she doing?” Mai asked with a concerned look on her face and put her book down. She was leaning against the tree and looked up at Zuko who in turn looked over at Izumi with proud eyes and a smile.

“She’s playing with the rocks.” Zuko sat down next to his wife. “Don’t worry, she knows not to pick up the heavier ones.”

“I still don’t want her so close to the water.” Mai said and looked over at Izumi who seemed blissfully unaware of the streams of the cold water.

“Izumi!” Zuko called for the little girl. “Angel don’t get too close to the water, alright?”

Izumi with her big golden eyes and rosy cheeks only mumbled something and nodded but her attention was overtaken by a butterfly that was flying above her head.

Sweet laughter ensued, and she tried to grab the butterfly with her small chubby hands, but the flying creature of glowing colors was too fast for the girl. She let out a loud giggle until the butterfly landed on her nose and causing a surprising reaction for Izumi.

A small gasp escaped from the small girl and her legs suddenly failed her when she slipped and fell backwards into the river.

Mai let out a scream at the sound of her daughter dropping into the water and Zuko yelled out her name. Both came running towards the river but Zuko was faster and without hesitation jumped in and grabbed Izumi by her collar.

Mai’s heart was at her throat and she let out a sigh of relief as Zuko pulled the shocked and terrified girl out of the water.

“My sweet darling angel…” Mai said and reached her arms for her daughter who wanted to be nowhere else but in the arms of her mother.

Izumi let out a loud and scared cry.

“It’s alright, it’s alright.” Zuko took off his cape and wrapped it around Izumi. They laid down together on the picnic set with Izumi in the middle. Zuko using his bending to dry her soaking wet clothes and her thick black hair was dripping down and mixed itself with Izumi’s tears.

“Dumb!” Izumi pointed angrily at the butterfly that was flying high and above the river. The butterfly crossed the river and disappeared in the forest. “Bad!” Izumi said again and looked at both of her parents and Zuko and Mai nodded agreeing.

“A very bad butterfly.” Zuko said and laid a kiss on Izumi’s wet and cold cheek.

Izumi had stopped crying but had no desire to go out running and skipping for the day. She let out another angry mumbling in her usual toddler language to which nobody could truly understand but her parents.

“I hope you stay like this forever.” Mai said and embraced their daughter and kissed her little fingers and her small nose. Izumi fell asleep on Mai’s chest and soon after Mai followed suit. Zuko looked lovingly over at his wife and daughter. How alike they were in looks and even in temperament, but Mai always wished for Izumi to become ten times better than she ever was. Zuko laid another kiss on Izumi’s cheek and one on Mai’s lips.

“Zuko…” Mai mumbled in her sleep and arched her eyebrows.

He chuckled lightly and soon fell asleep next to them.

 

Life changes and goes on and Izumi would grow up, but the river would always stay the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it was going to be difficult to write and it was but then I changed my mind and said ''why not have Izumi falling into a river?''


	4. The Lord and his Lady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt 'dance' for Fall Maiko Week 2018.
> 
> This takes place pre-banishment and Zuko and Mai are just kids. Zuko is a peeping Tom btw.

At the Royal Fire Academy for Girls there was more than just learning and be a good student. The school had a high standard for their pupils to not only be prime students, but exemplary Fire Nation citizen and the typical noblewoman was to learn to be graceful, feminine and always put high value for their heritage.

These were things that Mai didn’t care much about.  Her own parents wanted to instill in her what it meant to be a lady and a noble of their great nation, but it went from one ear to another. If there was one thing she secretly enjoyed from that school was the dancing lessons. She wasn’t particularly good at it and she didn’t want others to know or sense that she enjoyed it. She wasn’t like her friend Ty Lee and Ty Lee was one of the best. The tender and graceful movements and Mai tried to incorporate some of it to her knife fighting but never was anyone going to watch her or see her enjoy the artform.

When school ended for the day she stayed an hour or so and found herself all alone in the dancing studio with the crimson curtains and the mirrors reflecting her. She found comfort in solitude when crowded surroundings suffocated her, silenced her and made her feel small. Ironic how being around familiar and supposedly loved faces made her stomach twist and turn but what freedom there was in being alone with nobody to worry about shutting you down.

She took of her school uniform and put on another. Skintight and with grey stockings and she had never fully grown comfortable in such clothing. She looked at herself in the mirror and she let out a sigh of disgust of what she was seeing.

She was indeed a late bloomer, but they had been growing and she didn’t like it, not one bit. Even if she was a year older than her classmates she was also the least developed in that area but right now it wasn’t going to be a bother for her. None of those girls were there now to watch her and so she danced.

She didn’t care that her buns had gotten loose and now her long raven hair was following along gently with the wind beneath her as she moved. She felt free.

 

 

On the other side of the fences that separated the Royal Fire Academy for Girls and the Royal Fire Academy for Boys stood Zuko and waited. Lost in his thoughts he almost forgot what he was waiting for or for who he was waiting for.

“Are you coming or not Zuzu?” His sister Azula called for him. Next to her stood her friend, the acrobatic girl named Ty Lee but one of them was missing.

“I’m… Uh, wait. Where’s the other one? The tall silent one?” He asked.

“Ugh, you mean Mai? She’s still in that forsaken building and studying away.” Azula sounded disgusted at the thought of homework and books. “So, are you coming or not?”

“You go ahead of me. I forgot something inside…” He looked up at the building and noticing an open window with crimson curtains.

 _What am I even doing… I shouldn’t be doing this._ His thoughts echoed in his mind as he climbed up the walls and using the rose branches to help him climb steadily. He got up on the window sill and looked at his bloody and roughed up hands. He let out a silent grunt and wiped it off on his uniform. He soon forgot about it when he saw the dark-haired girl prancing around the room, her hair was down almost to her waist and she seemed incredibly flexible. Not like Azula’s other friend but there was something different with this one and the way her hair swayed with every movement.

He damned himself for forgetting her name when Azula had just recently told him. He needed a clue, but he had nothing to go on, instead he found himself staring at her from the window…

The humming caught her off guard and from the mirror ahead of her she saw him. Azula’s older brother. _Zuko._

She turned around and with widened and shocked eyes looked at the intruder and gasped loudly.

“What are you doing here! You aren’t supposed to be here!” Mai called out and hurried to get her bag and use it as a cover.

“I’m sorry!” Zuko was equally surprised by her loudness. “I… I…”

“What are you doing here? You were staring? At me?” Mai clenched her lips together and hoped it would hide her reddened cheeks.

“I’m really sorry! I don’t know what to say I-I…” Zuko felt a shiver down his spine and he suddenly wished he’d just drop down from the window or that his brain would cooperate with him.

Mai was ready to walk away from him and this embarrassing situation until he called her out.

“Wait! Don’t go… I really liked your dance.” Zuko managed to say.

Mai turned her head around and tilted it a bit. She tried to hide what she felt was a smirk appearing on her lips. “You do?”

“Yeah…” He chuckled and leaned in to the room. He was unsure if he should approach her and thinking of how the current situation was unfolding it was better to stay put. He knew it had been indecent of him to peep on her. His mother had told him how a lady should be treated, and he could only imagine her voice right at that moment.

“I remember you.” Zuko recalled a memory. “I’m sorry about it actually. I was just trying to get the apple off your head.”

Mai blushed, and she remembered the incident as clear as the blue sky. “Oh… Thank you I guess…”

“Azula can be a real pain. I don’t know how you have the strength to deal with her.” Zuko smiled. He could swear by Agni that he saw the girl let out a small yet shy smile herself.

“She can be sometimes…” Mai let out a giggle. She couldn’t believe she was standing only a few meters away from Zuko and having a conversation with him.

“You’re really pretty when you’re not gloomy.” Zuko said and what he thought was a compliment seemed to have backfired on him.

“When I’m not… _what_?” Mai never thought she would hear it from the prince himself. “Please don’t call me that…” Mai mumbled as she turned around and was ready to walk away until Zuko yelled out a sorry.

“I shouldn’t have called you that. I’m sorry, I just like your smile.” Zuko said and it had Mai stand still for a while.

“I’ve heard it before.” Mai said, and her face was back to its neutrality. “Gloomy. That’s a nickname I hear often. My name is actually Mai.”

“Mai…” Zuko said it as if he was tasting something sweet. “I like it!”

“You do?” Once again, she sounded surprised.

Zuko nodded and gave her a big smirk. “Are you leaving already? That sucks. I wished to talk to you. I know it was inappropriate of me peeping when you danced but you were really good! My dad thinks dancing is a waste of time…” Zuko said and got down from the window sill.

“My dad too. He doesn’t like anything in particular and especially not my kniv-.” Mai felt as if she was sharing too much with the prince. She didn’t want to walk away. Not just yet. He was actually talking to her and noticing her. Inside she started to feel good about the prince seeing her dancing and he liked it.

“Could you teach me some steps?” What was going on with him? Why, he didn’t seem to be himself. Him? Dancing? What a preposterous thing of him to request from her but at the same time, he did want to touch her hands. Her soft and slender hands…

“Shouldn’t the Prince of the nation know how to dance?” Mai asked him. She wasn’t exactly thrilled because now her mind was clouded with several other ways of how she could further embarrass herself in front of him.

“Well… My dad doesn’t care and my mom…M-Mom…” Zuko’s voice trembled when the thought of his mother came about.

Mai saw him shaking and she instantly knew. She knew of the banished princess and even if she didn’t know in full detail she didn’t dare to ask. It wasn’t her business.

Zuko was sniveling and tried to fight back his tears. What was it his father use to tell him? _Men don’t cry. Strong men do not cry._ He was too caught up with remembering his father’s advice and he hadn’t seen Mai walking up to him until he felt her arms wrapping around him.

He hadn’t been hugged for a while. The last time was his Uncle and his father… It wasn’t even worth the time to think of what would happen if his own father gave him a hug. Maybe the war would end or so the world as they knew it.

“Do you want to dance?” Mai looked up at him. He was only a head taller than her, but she carried herself tall and with great posture.

“Uh yeah.” He said with a shy smile and let himself being led by her to the middle of the room.

“It’s custom for the man to lead but I’ll help you since you don’t really know how to dance.”

“I know how to play the Tsungi Horn! My uncle taught me that.” Zuko looked proud. “Although I’m not as good as he is…”

Mai didn’t know how to answer that. “Uh… My uncle taught me how to quickly disarm someone and twist their arm in the process.”

Zuko looked almost terrified but intrigued. “That’s… Kinda cool.” He gave her that smile. That charming grin he had.

She was blushing again and mumbled something about her uncle working at some prison she had never heard about.

“Okay… I’ll lead, and you’ll just imagine the music in your head. Not Tsungi horn music… Imagine the royal orchestra.”

Zuko nodded and found himself in another awkward position. He had no idea where to lay his hand and as soon as it slipped from her ballerina uniform she quickly pulled it up to her waist and blushed.

It went smooth and he seemed to get a hang of it. He could hear the ballroom music in his head and imagined himself as the Fire Lord and everyone had their eyes on him and he had their loyalty and respect as a Fire Lord always deserved. And Mai, Mai was his consort. His lady and looking into her eyes he felt as if he was looking at the near future. The Fire lord that he was, was tall and strong and he was loved. He felt like he was falling into a deep trance and when he looked into Mai’s eyes it didn’t help him much to get out of it. She was smiling at him and he leaned forward, and his sudden actions caused Mai to pull herself away from him.

He had managed to steal her first kiss and he hadn’t realized it until he was in the middle of it. His lips on hers.

His fantasy ended right there. The image of the fire lord and his consort was shattered, and he was pulled back into reality.

“I…” Zuko managed but Mai could only stare at him. No words were leaving her mouth. She grabbed her bag and ran away from him without even looking back.

Zuko watched as her hair swayed from side to side as the blushing girl ran away from him.

“Ugh… What’s wrong with me…” He covered his face in his hands in disappointment. The first girl he genuinely liked, and he ruined it with a stupid kiss.

 

Mai didn’t meant to slam the door, but the wind was making the door hit hard. She didn’t want him to think she was upset with him, but she should have been. She wasn’t raised like this. Had her mother known a boy had kissed her, it would be a scolding like never before. She tried to tell herself she was upset with him. _That is no way to treat a lady._

But her cheeks got warm and she felt her heart beat faster. Her first kiss. And she really genuinely liked it.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know dancing was banned in the Fire Nation but I like to think that this was happening before or shortly before the law forbidding dancing came to place. Maybe it was banned already by Azulon. We don’t know and I’m fine with either.


	5. Let your imagination run free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Mai come up with a game and it's all about using your imagination. Very loosely inspired on a certain scene from Wuthering Heights.   
> Written for the prompt ''run."

Once again Azula’s rough housing had pushed Zuko the edge. Mai and Ty Lee could do nothing but watch the young firebending siblings go at it and with ferociousness as they fought.

And it didn’t usually go well, not for Zuko at least.

Azula managed to knock him down and he fell on his back on the soft grass, yet a bounce was heard, and Ty Lee grimaced as Zuko fell. She could only imagine the pain of having to fall on your back like did.

“Get up Zuzu. Dad is right, you really are hopeless.” Azula cackled and she didn’t see the tears that was building up in Zuko’s eyes.

“Shut up Azula!” Zuko yelled out and ran away, only surpassing Mai and didn’t even bother to give the three girls a glance.

His shoulder had brushed against Mai’s and she looked at him running with concerned eyes. A small but unnoticed glare was shot at Azula as her cackling got louder.

“What a dum-dum.” Azula said and had Ty Lee laugh with her. “Well, what do you think Mai? Isn’t he just worthless? Trying to force his rules onto us.”

“I think you’re mean Azula…” Mai whispered but loud enough for the princess to hear.

“What? How am I mean? He is the one who thinks he knows everything, and someone had to put him in his place.” Azula said with disgust.

He had tried to set some rules but only because it was his time to choose a game. He never got a word in and Azula mocked him endlessly until he had enough with her.

Mai couldn’t stand it being in her own friend’s presence anymore. She gave one meaningful look to Ty Lee and turned to Azula who seemed to be waiting for some answer to come out of the shy girl’s mouth.

“What now? Can’t speak up?” Azula threw some humiliating jabs at Mai. “I see. You’re too weak to speak up anyway. You’re just like Zuzu.”

Mai said nothing, but she felt like saying anything to the princess but maybe it was best to not open her mouth or the princess’s rage would be targeted at her. Without a further ado Mai turned around and ran off to Zuko without looking back at the offended Azula and the confused Ty Lee.

“Ugh. Look at them. That’s all they know of. Running away like some scared idiots. They deserve each other.”

 

Mai hadn’t fought this through, what was she supposed to tell the prince when she found him. She rarely had anything to say and it was always up to Zuko to start a conversation and Agni knows, that wasn’t his greatest quality.

She found him on top of a few boulders at the end of the garden. His back against her and she could swear that he was sobbing by the sound of it.

She looked up at him and she struggled with her words until what seemed a breeze of confidence filled her up.

“Zuko?”

He quickly turned around and saw the young girl standing beneath him. He was surprised to see her and to hear her voice.

“What do you want? Why aren’t you playing with Azula.” He was on the defense and wiped his tears with his sleeve.

“I-I wanted to check on you. I’m sorry for Azula…” Her voice was trembling, and she didn’t even dare to look at him.

“Don’t be. She’s your friend after all.”

“I know but sometimes I don’t like her games at all. She’s too violent and pushy. I liked your though.”

Zuko turned around again and was caught by surprise once again at her revelation.

“You do?”

Mai nodded. Zuko’s games were nice and considerate. She did want to play with him but Azula wouldn’t allow that.

Zuko reached his hand to Mai who at first seemed hesitant to hold onto him.

“C’mon. We can play together if you want.”

Mai liked that and suddenly they found themselves sitting on the highest boulder with a view of the garden as a whole.

It got quiet between them. Zuko turned his head away from Mai and Mai was too shy to speak to him.

Zuko felt his cheeks grow warmer and he wanted nothing but to run away again and not wanting Mai to see the redness spreading on his cheeks.

“Is this the game? I’m bored.” Mai sighed. Maybe following him wasn’t a good idea at all but she did enjoy the silence that she rarely got from being with Ty Lee and Azula.

“Actually, we need more people to play but I guess we could make up a game for ourselves?” Zuko glanced over to Mai.

“Let your imagination run free.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” He stood up and looked over at the garden from the top. What a freeing sensation it was and everyone under them looked so small. He couldn’t even see Azula or Ty Lee and he couldn’t even care. “Our lives are here.”

Mai was confused. Maybe the fall had hurt him badly and he wasn’t even in tune with what he was saying.

“I’m the pirate king and you’ll be the maiden.” Zuko said and with a smile that shined like hundreds of suns.

“But I don’t know how…”

Zuko grabbed her hand. “Just pretend. You can be whatever you want. You’re free to choose.”

Mai wasn’t realizing how close she was standing next to him. Had she known she might have backed down a few steps or felt the warmth from her cheeks to her ears.

“Then I’m a warrior princess and I’m mastering in swordfight.” Mai couldn’t believe the enthusiasm in her voice. She was actually enjoying this game.

“You’ll be my queen and together we sail the great seas. From here to the Earth Kingdom and to the Water Tribes!” Zuko was speaking like a true leader and squeezed Mai’s hand.

“Yes, my lord.” Mai said with a smirk.

They jumped down from the boulders and pretended it was a waterfall. With two sticks in their hands they imagined to be surrounded by enemies and still holding each other’s hands, they imagined the horizon ahead of them and it was their destination. Zuko never thought he could have this amount of fun with Mai. Mai who never spoke, who often didn’t even dare to look him in the eye and he had once written her off as being boring and just a yes-sayer to Azula.

He enjoyed running free in the garden with her and he enjoyed hearing her sweet laughter as he pretended to fight the evil that surrounded them.

“Wait! I’ll protect you, your highness!” Zuko said and stood in front of Mai and fought of the invisible Water Tribe pirates they imagined.

“I need no protection from you, my king.” Mai answered him and with a swift movement she managed to sneak away from him between his legs and running off.

Zuko was taken by surprise. How did she manage to move so quickly and without him even realizing.

“Oh, you glorious king. Won’t you join your queen in this fight?” Mai said with a laugh and looked back at him.

Zuko came running with her and he never wanted this day to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been very busy so I couldn't write anything these past days so here are some late submissions.


	6. Scattered minds, scattered hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for Fall Maiko Week 2018. This prompt is scatter. I'm a bit late with the last submissions because of school and work. Last submission will hopefully be posted tomorrow.  
> \---  
> Zuko has a scattered mind and only Mai knows how to distract him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this might be a bit rushed. I was very busy the last days of the week.
> 
> Leave a comment if you like!

The Fire lord rubbed his eyes and his templates in the hope to regain his focus on his work. The words, the symbols and the inkwork. It all danced around his eyeballs and he wished he could push himself to either fully commit to the work or leave it be for another time. Headache after headache and paper after paper. Being the fire lord was a lonely job and the only person who could understand his burden was his lady.

Zuko felt slender fingers in his hair, circulating in the right places to fight his aching mind.

“Mai…” He let out a moan and grabbed her arm.

“Yes, my lord?” The smooth and raspy voice was heard. “You’re working too hard and too late, again. Come to bed.”

“Don’t wait up for me. The fire lady needs her sleep more than the fire lord.” Zuko said and stroked her arm.

Mai was standing behind him and looked over at the amount of paperwork he had in front of him. She let out a sigh and shook her head.

“I’m not going anywhere until I know that you’re taking a break.” Mai sat down next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and kept two fingers tangled in his long dark hair.

“I’m sorry…” Zuko chuckled. “I’m sorry if I’m ignoring you.” His voice sounded exhausted and dry. He wanted to lay in bed with her but he also didn’t want to move. He liked her touch on his shoulder and inhaling the scent of her.

“Sure…” She sounded sarcastic but with a sweet smirk appeared on her lips. “What is it about?”

“Border dispute with the former colonies. I think I have to travel back to the Northern Water Tribe very soon…”

“Earth Kingdom.” She corrected him.

“What did I say?”

“Northern Water Tribe.” Mai gave him a playful slap on the back of his head. “Go to bed, fire lord.”

Zuko pulled her into his lap, surprising her and not giving her any space to get out of his grip.

She tried to fight him back but he had his hands gripping her wrists and looked at her with a devilish smirk as she tried to twist herself away from him.

“You’re beautiful like this.” Zuko caressed her sharp chin with his finger.

Her only reply was a blush and tremble as his finger trailed down from her chin to her neck.

The moonlight struck half of his face and lightened up his scar. The contrasts between his milky skin, his long dark hair and the red coarse part of his skin made him look a god-like creature or a painting of one.

Zuko knew what her eyes were focusing on and his smirk faded slowly.

“What is it you love about me?” Zuko asked Mai. Still not letting her be freed from him.

“What? You’re being silly.” Mai replied but with a small grin but it was clear that he wasn’t letting her go until she was answering him.

“I’m being serious.” He stroked her hair with his free hand and rested it on her smooth cheek.

She was now resting her head on his lap and she no longer had the will to fight back from his grip.

“Where do I start…” Her voice was breaking. She swallowed before continuing. “Almost everything I love about you is inside of you.” She gestured towards his heart. “And even if it’s your… _imperfections._ ”

“Almost everything?” He questioned her.

Mai pushed herself upwards to be able to face properly. Zuko let her hands free and now they were cupping his cheeks.

“I love what I’m seeing in front of me. Words are so futile.” Mai finished and stroked her lips against his. It was true that she was not good with words. She was never one to be able to express herself properly but physically.

And the scar, the scar that had been one of his greatest insecurities. The first thing one noticed about him when he walked into the room. That scar was just a part of him. It was his face, the face she woke up to every morning, the face she loved. And she loved it like she loved every other feature on his body.

Zuko reached out and kissed her. Just feeling her touch was enough for him. Knowing how she looked at him was enough. His mind was clearer now with her inside but not for long until he had to leave her behind again.


	7. Dusk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last prompt for Fall Maiko Week 2018. The prompt was dusk and this is mostly porn... with feelings. I didn't know how to write for this special prompt and I was already late and running out of time. Anyway. NSFW.

“Would you please come to bed?” Mai said with a deep sigh as she looked over to her husband.

Zuko was finally home after weeks in the Earth Kingdom. Those weeks had felt like agonizing months for both of them.

“In a second.” He answered with his head down in scrolls that needed his sigil marked on them. He knew he needed a vacation away from all of the meetings, negotiating and just the politics. Zuko had the whole world to please. The foreign diplomats that still mistrusted everything that bore the Fire Nation symbol and the senators back home that still harbored the Fire Nation patriotism even years after the war ended. Everyone wanted their say and Zuko had to see them all somewhere in the middle.

Zuko turned his head towards Mai’s direction. She was lying stretched out on the bed waiting for him to join her. He licked his lips at the sight of the see-through nightgown and with the light above her reflected her body for him to see.

“Ugh, you keep saying that.” Mai rose from the bed and walked over to him. She was standing over Zuko and pulled on his tank top. “Zuko, honestly, you’ve been away from me for weeks and I still feel you’re being distant.”

“I’m sorry.” Zuko said and caressed her back. He let out a weak smile that showed how tired he really was.

“They just won’t leave you alone…” Mai stroke his hair and looked down at the dozens of letters that were addressed from Zuko and to him.

“It’s not that bad. If you only knew what Aang has to go through.” Zuko yawned and pulled Mai closer to him.

“I can only suffer in silence with Katara.” Mai answered and turned his chair away from his desk.

Mai knew she had to do something to ease his mind. He would need some relaxation or a bit of a rest before their infant daughter would cry out for them.

“Mai, please. I need to get this done…”

“You can do it tomorrow.” Mai was kneeling down and stroking the rough stubble he was sporting. “I have no idea how you can continue on like this. You’ll have a heart attack before 40.” Mai’s hands were resting on his strong thighs. “I need you around, you know. I need our daughter to have her father…”

Mai was sounding breathless and stroked her slender hands up and down his thighs. Zuko couldn’t do much and happily obliged to whatever was happening next.

“You really know how to relax me.” Zuko let out a raspy chuckle and buried one hand in her thick dark hair.

“You deserve it.”

Mai quickly pulled the strings to his maroon colored silk pants and massaged his bulge. She couldn’t help to half smirk at his flustered expression. She liked the control she had of him and how she could make him grunt and moan with just the right touch.

“What if she wakes up?” Zuko whispered as Mai was working on his cock with her hand.

“Then I’ll stop but she won’t.” Mai answered and gave him a lick.

It was true what she was saying. Izumi had a routine and a strict schedule that she followed and it required Zuko and Mai to memorize it.

She knew how to please him and she knew exactly how he liked. She mixed it up with a few squeezes, licks and sucks until he gasped her name out and both of his hands were deeply buried in her hair.

He let the straps of her nightgown fall carefully down her shoulders and to the floor. He made her stop and stand up so he could admire her curves and how she moved like a hypnotizing serpent.

“What’s wrong?” Mai asked and tucked his long hair behind his ears. She felt a shiver on her naked skin until his heated hands were all over her hips and back.

“Nothing.” Zuko said and kissed the scars on her abdomen. The scars that reminded them of the life she had carried and how once his daughter had grown inside of her. “You’re beautiful.”

Mai didn’t mind that she was standing naked in front of him and every vulnerable part of her was exposed to him. She was comfortable like that but still it was those little things that made her blush. The sincere compliments made by him about her appearance and looks. She didn’t always feel beautiful and certainly not after the pregnancy but it didn’t matter to him.

Zuko, almost forcefully, pulled her into his lap and she felt his pulsating erection on her own genitals.

“I guess you weren’t that sleep after all.” Mai joked and stroked his cock.

“I guess not. Maybe it’s because of you. You fill my soul with something… special.” Zuko caught a kiss so torrid it was enough to make him want to have his way with her right there. All those letters and scrolls were of almost to no importance to him anymore. He swept them all off the desk and had Mai on her back.

She didn’t protest him but she did have to remind him of his sleeping daughter in the other room and neither one of them were ready to stop.

“I’ve missed this…” Mai said with a moan as he was rubbing himself against her, preparing to enter her wetness.

“What do you do when I’m not around?” Zuko asked and let stroked his callous hands against her smooth skin around her breasts and around her nipples.

Mai let out a giggle but not of the innocent kind. It was said to be beneath a lady of her birth and only the worst harlots do it but it was the best way to pretend that he was there and that it was his hands touching and not hers.

Zuko tried his best to silence his grunts as she pushed himself inside of her. A fire ignited in both of them and an energy re-born that fueled their lust and passion for each other.

Mai let out a painful moan as he thrusted and from her back she pulled the royal Fire Nation stamp that had marked her back, quite ironically.

Zuko couldn’t help to laugh as he kept on fucking her and it only stopped until Mai gave him a slap on the arm.

“You never learn, Fire lord…” She hissed and grinned at him.

Mai didn’t want their session to end. She wanted this memory burned into her mind and everything that reminded of him. His hair, his face and his scent and with those sweet memories she could go to bed with and it would comfort her when he wasn’t going to be there next to her.

“I guess I need someone to teach me.” He said through heavy breaths and gritted teeth. He had missed her greatly and to the point he imagined her voice following him around in Ba Sing Se and her voice, milky skin and raven hair drove him wild with passion and lust.

Their declaration of love to each other was mostly physical with some instances of I love you’s but those words were easily written and sometimes words aren’t enough for them.

They came together and at the magical point of right after sunset and the room that once shined of red, orange and shades of purple from the sundown was now of darker tones.

Zuko rested his head on her chest and kissed the droplets of sweat off her skin.

No words only smirks and soft caressing in the silent room until Izumi woke up in her nursey and loudly cried out for them.

“I told you she has a strict schedule.”

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of rushed with this. I'm sorry I just really love Izumi. I'm working on new stuff too.


End file.
